Hundreds of lawyers offended by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s blocking of Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William L. Thomas’ nomination to the South
Florida federal bench have signed a petition urging the
conservative Republican to allow the first openly gay black nominee to be
confirmed by the Senate.

Rubio, who along with Democratic Sen. Bill
Nelson recommended Thomas to President Barack Obama almost
a year ago, now says the jurist is not qualified because of his mishandling of
a couple of DUI and murder cases.

But the signers of the petition, led by Miami attorney David
Tucker, say Rubio has unfairly distorted Thomas’ record as soft to pander
to the Tea Party and other GOP right-wingers.

“Judge Thomas would be a tremendous asset to the bench and
community,” the petition reads. “He brings years of legal and judicial
experience to the court. The time to act is now and therefore we request that
Senator Rubio put politics aside and immediately issue a ‘blue slip’ allowing
for Judge Thomas’ nomination process to move forward.”

Rubio’s hold on the so-called blue slip is the only barrier
to Thomas’ Senate confirmation hearing.

Several media outlets, including the Miami Herald, Tampa Bay
Times and Huffington Post, have opined that Rubio’s flip-flop on Thomas — rated
“majority well qualified” by the American Bar Association — is motivated only
by partisan politics because he was skewered by conservatives for backing
immigration reform.